gement of horizontal
and perpendicular lines and blocks in the old Greek borders so
everlastingly satisfactory.

It is the principle or requirement, of geometric base in interior design
which, coupled with our natural delight in yielding or growing forms,
has maintained through all the long history of decoration what is called
conventionalised flower design. We find this in every form or method of
decorative art, from embroidery to sculpture, from the Lotus of Egypt
to the Rose of England, and although it results in a sort of crucifixion
of the natural beauty of the flower, in the hands of great designers it
has become an authoritative style of art.

Of course, there are flower-forms which are naturally geometric, which
have conventionalised themselves. Many of the intricate Moorish frets
and Indian carvings are literal translations of flower-forms
geometrically repeated, and here they lend themselves so perfectly to
the decoration of even exterior walls that the fretted arches of some
Eastern buildings seem almost to have grown of themselves, with all
their elaboration, into the world of nature and art.

The separate flowers of the gracefully tossing lilac plumes, and the
five-and six-leaved flowers of the pink, have become in this way a very
part of the everlasting walls, as the acanthus leaf has become the
marble blossom of thousands of indestructible columns.

These are the classics of design and hold the same relation to ornament
printed on paper and silk that we find in the music of the Psalms, as
compared with the tinkle of the ballad.

There are other methods of decoration in oils which will meet the wants
of the many who like to exercise their own artistic feelings and ability
in their houses or rooms. The painting of flower-friezes upon canvas
which can afterward be mounted upon the wall is a never-ending source of
pleasure; and many of these friezes have a charm and intimacy which no
merely professional painter can rival. These are especially suitable for
bedrooms, since there they may be as personal as the inmate pleases
without undue unveiling of thoughts, fancies, or personal experiences
to the public. A favourite flower or a favourite motto or selection may
be the motive of a charming decoration, if the artist has sufficient
art-knowledge to subordinate it to its architectural juxtaposition. A
narrow border of fixed repeating forms like a rug-border will often
fulfil the necessity for architectural l